11-Seat Gain Gives GOP Some House Breathing Room
Minnesota House Republicans will come into next year's legislative session with a majority and a tiny bit of breathing room.
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Minnesota House Republicans will come into next year's legislative session with a majority and a tiny bit of breathing room.
U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson says he anticipates being able to work out compromises on agricultural issues in the next Congress, but he has some concerns about the lineup of the next Senate Agriculture Committee.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's re-election secures his reputation as a conservative hero and possible presidential contender and will make it more difficult for opponents to reverse his restrictions on public sector unions, tax cuts and other business-friendly policies.
Democratic state Rep. Steve Simon has been elected secretary of state, defeating Republican former state Rep. Dan Severson. Simon will take over as Minnesota's chief elections officer from Democrat Mark Ritchie, who chose not to run again.
Justices David Lillehaug and Wilhelmina Wright will stay on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Lillehaug, a former U.S. attorney for Minnesota, faced voters for the first time since Gov. Mark Dayton appointed him to the high court last year. Lillehaug defeated Michelle MacDonald, a West St. Paul attorney who won the GOP endorsement for the officially nonpartisan office but fell out with party leaders after it emerged that she faced criminal charges over a traffic stop.
Rep. Rick Nolan has fended off a strong GOP challenger to hold onto Minnesota's 8th District in what was among the most expensive congressional races in the country. He beat Fleet Farm scion and political newcomer Stewart Mills to win a second term of his second stint in Congress. The Democrat previously served in the 1970s.
Republicans have grabbed control of the Minnesota House and broken up the Democrats' short run of one-party rule at the Capitol. House Speaker Paul Thissen conceded early Wednesday that Democrats had lost control of the chamber.
Election Day arrived in Minnesota with Democrats feeling good about sweeping the biggest races in the state — for governor and U.S. Senate — and perhaps all of the statewide offices. But the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party was fighting a rear-guard action to hang on to the Minnesota House, with plenty of incumbents at risk and Republicans needing just seven seats to bring back divided government for the first time since 2012.
Sen. Al Franken's margin of victory in Tuesday's election was a landslide compared to his razor-thin win six years ago. In July of 2009, after a seven-month recount and a drawn-out legal challenge, Franken was finally declared the winner by just 312 votes. While the margin of Franken's victory this time was predicted by recent polls, as recently as a year ago he was not expected to do nearly as well.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is calling on his political opponents to join him in building a better state.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson says he's wishing the victor, Democratic incumbent Mark Dayton, success because he wants Minnesota to succeed. Johnson lost his bid Tuesday to oust Dayton after a single term.
GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Mike McFadden says Minnesota's Republican party is in better shape than two years ago, despite his loss to Sen. Al Franken.
Minnesota's most senior member of Congress, Collin Peterson, has won his 13th term. Voters in western Minnesota's 7th District are sending Democrat Collin Peterson back to Washington after he withstood a vigorous challenge from GOP state Sen. Torrey Westrom.
Republicans have seized control of the Senate for the first time in eight years.
Democratic Rep. Tim Walz has won a fifth term in Congress in southern Minnesota's 1st District, defeating Blue Earth businessman Jim Hagedorn.
